Spin City
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Spin City was a TV series that ran from 1996 to 2002, based on a fictional local government running New York City, originally starring Michael J. Fox as Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty. The show was cancelled along with Dharma & Greg and Once and Again in 2002 due to low ratings from the 2001-2002 season and a change in target demographics.
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Premise
The series focused on the Mayor of New York City, Randall Winston(Barry Bostwick), and his staff as they ran the city - although the main person in charge was Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty (Fox). Mike was excellent at his job, dealing with spin and lies, but not so good with his personal life. Other members of staff at City Hall included press secetary Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind), whom no-one really liked and was often kept in the dark about things; chief of staff Stuart Bondek (Alan Ruck), who loves the ladies and is often very sexist; minority affairs spokesman Carter Heywood (Michael Boatman), who is a gay black man who owns a suicidal dog named Rags; speech writer James Hobert (Alexander Chaplin), who is easily led and quite naive; the Mayor's secretary Janelle Cooper (Victoria Dillard); Mike's secretary Stacy Paterno (Jennifer Esposito); and his assistant Nikki Faber (Connie Britton). Each of them had to help run City Hall, covering for the Mayor's frequent gaffes, improving his image, whilst sorting out their own personal lives.
At the start of the series, Mike was dating reporter Ashley Schaffer (Carla Gugino). However, just a few episodes into the series, Gugino decided to leave. Rumours were around saying that Fox's wife Tracy Pollan was not happy with the love scenes between Fox and Gugino's characters, and indeed one episode ("A Star Is Born") was re-edited for syndication, with all scenes featuring Ashley removed and replaced by other scenes.
The Later Years
In 1998 Michael J Fox announced he had Parkinson's Disease. As such a new character, Caitlin Moore (Heather Locklear) was introduced at the start of the 1999-2000 season to help share Mike's workload. Caitlin was Mayor Winston's campaign manager as he decided to run for Senator, and there was much friction between Mike and Caitlin about who was in charge of the Mayor.
In 2000 Fox announced that he was leaving the show at the end of the season to spend more time with his family and to raise money for research into Parkinson's. Fox's symptoms were getting worse by this point. The producers decided to carry on with the series with a new lead, and Mike Flaherty left City Hall at the end of the show's 4th season as he took the blame for an alleged Mafia link that the Mayor unknowingly had.
Production of the show then moved from New York to Los Angeles for the 5th season, and Charlie Sheen joined the show as new Deputy Mayor Charlie Crawford. Nikki, Janelle and James also disappeared between the 4th and 5th seasons (the absences of the characters were never explained) and the 5th season began with Charlie settling into his role of Deputy Mayor, along with Caitlin, Paul, Stuart, Carter and assistant Angie Ordonez (Lana Parrilla), and of course the Mayor himself. Angie left at the end of the 5th season, Parrilla feeling the character was underused, and she was never mentioned again.
Cast
- Michael J. Fox as Michael Flaherty (1996-2000)
- Barry Bostwick as Mayor Randall Winston
- Alan Ruck as Stuart Bondek
- Richard Kind as Paul Lassiter
- Michael Boatman as Carter Heywood
- Alexander Chaplin as James Hobert (1996-2000)
- Connie Britton as Nikki Faber (1996-2000)
- Victoria Dillard as Janelle Cooper (1996-2000)
- Carla Gugino as Ashley Schaeffer (1996)
- Jennifer Esposito as Stacy Paterno (1997-1999)
- Heather Locklear as Caitlin Moore (1999-2002)
- Charlie Sheen as Charlie Crawford (2000-2002)
- Lana Parrilla as Angie Ordonez (2000-2001)
Trivia
- The show was visited by numerous guest stars, such as supermodel Heidi Klum and actress Courtney Thorne-Smith.
- Many guest stars were connected to Fox and later Sheen. For instance, Mike Flaherty's mother was played by Meredith Baxter, who played his mother on Family Ties; and Charlie's father was played by Charlie Sheen's real-life father Martin Sheen.
- The mayor was named after associate producer Randall Winston.
- The original theme was composed by Shelly Palmer, who also composed the underscore.
- The theme tune for Seasons 2 and 3 was composed by the Spin Doctors (Spin, get it!).
- Carter and Paul are the only two characters to appear in every episode.
- Charlie Sheen was playing the Deputy Mayor of New York City in Spin City at the same time as his father Martin Sheen was playing the President of the United States in The West Wing
- Many of Spin City's main cast members have guest-starred on Scrubs, which was created by Spin City co-creator Bill Lawrence. Cast members who have appeared in Scrubs include Barry Bostwick, Richard Kind, Heather Locklear, Alan Ruck, Michael Boatman and Michael J. Fox.
External links
- TV Tome: Spin City (http://www.tvtome.com/SpinCity/)
- Citytv Toronto: Spin City (http://toronto.citytv.com/whats_on/shows/content/Spin_city.asp)de:Chaos City